If I had to rank my top three favorite hollidays, I would have to say that it would go as follows:

1. Christmas2. Thanksgiving3. 4th of July

Obviously, Christmas has to be my favorite. The obvious reason being the celebration of the Word (Jesus) becoming flesh and dwelling among us. There are many more reasons why I love Christmas so much and I’m sure I will talk about that much more as we move closer and closer to Christmas.

2nd on my list, would have to be Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving! I have so many memories of this day in years past. I remember spending time with my family, eating until I couldn’t move, watching more football in one day than should be allowed by law and watching the Macy’s Day parade. At our house, before we ate dinner each person would state one thing that they are thankful for. Being the oldest of 4 boys, it was always a bit challenging to get any of us to be serious for any length of time but my mom always gave it her best shot.

This year, I will celebrate my 29th Thanksgiving. I am thankful for so many things that it is difficult to list them all but here is just a few.

1. I’m thankful for an amazing wife that amazes me every day. She is the best wife and mom a person could ask for. She brings the best out of me and I can’t imagine life without her.

2. I’m thankful that I get to be the father of the most beautiful little girl on the face of the earth. She truly makes me laugh out loud every single day.

3. I’m thankful for an incredible family. It humbles me to my core every time I hear my parents or any of my family members tell me that they are proud of me.

4. I’m thankful for great friends that tell me the truth. Each one of my friends has taught me something and I can truly say each of them have made me better. Many of them live a good distance away from me now and I miss them every day.

5. I’m thankful that I get the opportunity to pastor the greatest congregation I have ever known. They are some of the most giving, encouraging, loyal, godly people that I have ever had the chance to meet. I love going to work every day!

6. I’m thankful for the Cubs even though they disappoint me on a yearly basis

7. Last of all, I am thankful for the redeeming power of Jesus. I can’t imagine what my life would be like if Jesus hadn’t found me. My life is dedicated to telling the world about how great our God truly is.

I hope that you have a wonderful thanksgiving and that you take a few minutes this week to ponder the things in your life that you are thankful for. Don’t be a person that has a longer list of pet peeves than things that you are thankful for.

When I was in Israel a few weeks ago, one of the spots that we went to was Capernaum. Capernaum is a city in Israel and is probably most famous for being the place where Jesus spent the majority of His 3 years of ministry before going to the cross. Many of the disciples lived and had families in Capernaum. One of them was the mother in law of Peter. This dear lady lived just outside of the synagogue and the disciples would often go there to have dinner. One day, when Jesus and the disciples went to her house, they found that she was sick with a very high fever. This is what the Bible says in Luke 4:38-39.

” 38 After leaving the synagogue that day, Jesus went to Simon’s home, where he found Simon’s mother-in-law very sick with a high fever. “Please heal her,” everyone begged. 39 Standing at her bedside, he rebuked the fever, and it left her. And she got up at once and prepared a meal for them.”

Did you catch that? Here is Peter’s mother in-law who is extremely sick with a high fever and bed ridden. Jesus and the disciples come over and see her sick. Jesus goes up to her, heals her and IMMEDIATELY, she gets up and prepares dinner for them.

Wow! Talk about a lady who went over the top to serve. I think that we can learn a lot from Peter’s mother-in-law in this instance. Think about it, we don’t even know her name! We just know her as Peter’s mother in law. There are so many people that have a victim mentality. They honestly believe that life is all about them. Many people, if they had been in this woman’s shoes, would have sat back and played the sick card for as long as possible. Why? Because it brought her attention. Yet this woman, lying in bed ready to die, was healed by Jesus and instantly began to serve. Why? Because that was who she was. What helped her to recover was serving others. If you are going through a difficult time in your life, take a lesson from Peter’s mother in law. The answer to your situation lies not in sulking and begging for attention. The answer lies in allowing Jesus to touch you and doing everything in your power to serve somebody else. If Peter’s mother in law were here and I asked her to preach a message for me on Sunday, my guess is that her sermon title would be, “It’s time to cook.”

This is such a fun stage for being a dad. Recently, Addison has been learning a TON of stuff. Unfortunately for me, Addison said her first legible word while I was away in Israel. Her first word was apple. I was really impressed to hear that after she said apple, she said “Hello I’m a mac.” Ok maybe she isn’t that advanced yet. Today, I went home for lunch and Addison came running to the door. Julie told me to ask Addison where her nose was and she pointed to her nose. She asked her where her eyes where and she pointed to her eyes. I know that seems like such a simple thing but I can’t explain to you how proud I was at that moment. To watch your child grow and learn right before your eyes is truly an overwhelming thing. I know that those of you that have kids probably can relate. The mind of a child at that age is truly amazing. Their capabilities to learn are impressive to say the least. Addison, right now, is forming a personality that she will have for the rest of her life. As a parent, that keeps me on my knees every single day knowing that I am responsible for the training of another life. Wow!

As I was driving to work today after visiting home for lunch, I was such a proud daddy. On the way in, God’s still small voice spoke to me and said,

“You know how proud you are of Addison for learning and growing. That is the way that I feel about you as you learn and grow and draw closer to me.”

Think about it. Every time you make a right decision. Every time you say no to sin. Every time you do the right thing. God, your Heavenly father looks down from Heaven with the biggest smile on His face. Why? Because He is a proud daddy. Because His son or daughter is learning, growing and becoming the person that He has created them to be. Addison longs to make her parents proud. So we long to make our heavenly father proud. At the end of the day, my goal is to go to bed, lay my head on my pillow, and know that my heavenly father is proud of the way that I lived my life for that day. There is no better feeling than that. When you lay your head on your pillow tonight, what is God going to think about how you lived your life today? Make Him proud.

With Expectancy!

Coreycbaker@famfm.com

About
With Expectancy is a blog written by Corey Baker, Lead Pastor of First Assembly West in Cape Coral, Florida.